Louisiana part 4- Misc

We found a snake skin, a very long snake skin in my Mom's yard.

We went to a revival service at a local church. We got to hear Ben Waiters sing! He is amazing. We bought one of his CDs.

We visited my Dad, Jimmy and sister Courtney. He gave me some clay marbles that my grandmother's brother made, I didn't even know she had a brother.

I shared a sad bit of history with the kids. I took them to see a "colored man's" grave that is actually outside of the cemetery's fence! The story goes that he was an old man when my grandpa was a boy and was the only African American living in the area; he was well thought of  and even protected the white women and children during the Colfax riots. Yet, he was still buried outside of the fence!

We met my brother, Adam's girlfriend, Julie.

And finally we had to say goodbye and start the long drive to New Orleans to catch our flight home. It was a wonderful trip.


Marie-Anne

Louisiana part 3- Alexandria Zoo

 We went to the Alexandria Zoo with Jennifier, her girls, and a girl she babysits, (whose Mom was one of my very best friends growing up), Jessica and Maggie. I am so thankful that we got to spend time with my sister, sister-in-law, nieces, and best friend's daughter. We had a lot of fun.

We don't have a zoo near us so I was very happy that the weather was nice and we were able to go. My kids love animals and were very happy to get to see some.

I printed out some educational worksheets from the zoo's website. The kids' favorites were the animal scavenger hunts.

Marie-Anne

Louisiana part 2- Lakes and Chandler Creek

Here is Louisiana! (Iatt Lake) You can almost imagine the alligators lurking in the water.

 

 

Chandler Creek was one of my absolute favorite places when I was a kid. It is within walking distance of my Mom's house and I spent countless hours there growing up. It brings me great pleasure to take my kids there and watch them enjoy a place I loved so much as a child. (Not sure if Jake the Snake is a water snake or a cotton mouth; either way he has teeth and we left him alone.)

 

We had family pictures taken at Stuart Lake. It was so pretty! (Not everybody, but glad for those who could make it!)

Marie-Anne

Louisiana part 1- Mom's Yard and Cousins

The view from my Mom's yard. Beautiful lush green!

The kids loved playing in the huge yard. The wheelbarrow rides didn't last long though.

Yes, these kids are using shovels to fill up the wheelbarrow with water from the ditch. Why? I don't know.

Alex and Sabrina enjoyed having cousins to play with. In fact, Sabrina says she is going to move to Louisiana when she is 18 and have adventures with Grace.

My kids really loved their cousins' trampoline!

My parents pulled out the fire pit so the kids could roast marshmallows, which was a lot of fun.

We had a wonderful trip. It was such fun to watch the kids play with their cousins and interact with aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

Marie-Anne

6 months behind...

I am six months behind in updating the blog. I am not even going to try to catch up, but here are a few highlights:

 

Several times we were able to let the kids climb a portable rock wall. We, parents, were also able to climb it once. While Alex likes it, Sabrina absolutely loves this and can hardly wait until she is 8 so she can climb the one at a local rec center.

The kids got to join some friends, Tessa and Sheldon, for a one day pony camp. They got to do farm chores, learn about animals, crafts, and pony rides.

Our very good friends; Angie, Mike, Cody, Sheldon, and Tessa moved out of state. We tried to do some fun things with them before they left. We were so sad to see them go and miss them very much.


We joined a homeschool group that meets weekly for park days or pool days. They also sometimes meet for other events.  Of course we did lots of other things too trips to museums, a factory tour with friends, park days, hiking, games....

Marie-Anne

Conference Jan 2016

My Mom was kind enough to fly out to watch the kids so Frank and I could go to Conference. Thank you!

Every morning and every night we had church services at the tent. The services were very timely and dealt with topics that were needed and encouraging to those of us in ministry.

Another nice thing about the Conference is the free time Frank and I have to spend together. We went hiking in the woods at Lynx Lake. It was a lot of fun hiking and playing in the snow.

We brought a few board games to play at the hotel.

On another day we went hiking at around Lynx Lake itself.

We also walked the path around the courthouse one day.

Of course, for me, no trip to Prescott is complete without a hike at Watson Lake.

We had a great time and learned a lot too.

Marie-Anne

Playing Catch-up - again

Wow, I am so far behind on the blog it is ridiculous. We are all doing good. I will play catch-up a little at a time.

games

On the morning before we left for conference, we played Gobblet Gobblers with the kids. It was fun.

Then we posed with our silly boy and messy haired girl before driving away.

Marie-Anne

Missonary from Bolivia

We were blessed to have a missionary family from Bolivia come to preach for us before the conference. The Dinn Family were sent to Bolivia from our mother church. It was great to see them again. We had them over for lunch after the service. We really enjoyed visiting with them.

Marie-Anne